Arsenal Vs Valencia: Laurent Koscielny comes full circle

The away leg in last year’s Europa League semi-final was when Laurent Koscielny ruptured his Achilles. Now, as captain, he is leading Arsenal in victory. He has come full circle.

The final whistle blew. France went wild. Paul Pogba jumped, frantically, almost unable to contain his joy. Hugo Lloris sprinted the length of the pitch, only to end at the bottom of a scrum, before later hoisting what everyone was so desperate to touch above his teammates. The Tricolour was flying high and proud. France had won the World Cup.

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But those signs of jubilation were not for all of France. For Laurent Koscielny, someone who had been a key component of the French qualifying campaign up until that point, the World Cup win was a gut-punch to the stomach.

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‘I wanted France to progress [at the World Cup] and at the same time I wanted them to lose,’ Koscielny said when he announced his retirement from Les Blues in October of last year. ‘It’s selfish, but it’s life. Some people will say, ‘What do you mean, he wanted France to lose?’ But that was my feeling at that moment. I think France’s victory did me more psychological damage than my injury.’

Koscielny missed the entirety of the World Cup because of a ruptured Achilles he suffered in the second leg of Arsenal’s semi-final Europa League loss to against eventual winners, Atletico Madrid. As soon as Koscielny crumpled to the ground in that match, curling his legs up to his chest while lying on the floor, clutching his Achilles like the straws his readiness for the World Cup was clutching at, it was plain: his season was over, his dream of playing and winning a World Cup was rid, and he might not play football for Arsenal again.

12 months later, with the same glee of that brilliant French team in the World Cup final, Koscielny turned to the cluster of Arsenal fans in the corner of La Mestalla. He raised his left hand, his fist pointing to the sky, and let out a roar of emotion, part in relief, part in joy, part in disbelief at the recovery that he has made.

This was Koscielny returning to the stage that his life nearly fell apart at and conquering it. It took him seven months to return to football. It will take him even longer to cope with the mental torture of what he missed during those seven months. But this heart-soaring, spirit-stirring, fist-thumping win over a feisty Valencia will provide some soothing for a troubled mind.

At 32, now 33, there were few who believed in Koscielny’s willingness to retake to the football pitch, never mind the ability to do so. It is quite conceivable, of course, that while the mind willed it, the body simply did not allow for it. But Koscielny has dispelled any doubts emphatically. Not only has he returned to lead this Arsenal team into their first European final since 2006, but he has done so with class, skill, awareness, integrity and heart.

Koscielny has come full circle. He has returned to the stage where his Achilles ruptured and his dreams fell apart. Now, it is his time to hoist a trophy above his teammates’ heads.